A Drop in the Ocean
by FanBoyTrippin
Summary: Piers survives and Chris tries to stay strong. An AU fix it to the Chris Campaign.
1. Deep in the Ocean

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of these characters or any piece of this franchise. This is my story though.**

Piers remembered everything. The roar of the Haos. The rush of water as the underwater station began collapsing around him. Firing off that one last shot of bioelectric energy to save his beloved Captain as the beast barreled toward Chris's escape pod.

The scalding rush of heat as everything around him exploded and the excruciating pains the the C-Virus began mutating his body faster and faster. Instantly his skin began to tighten as his form was incased in chrysalis.

Distantly he noticed movement in the waters around him as the damaged form of the Haos struggled to regain his bearings. This all came second to the agony he felt as his body transformed into something unrecognizable. If he'd been more conscious, he would have noticed the tentacles of his right arm extending, snapping up whatever biological matter it could and bringing it back to his chrysalized form. Corpses of people from the facility, pieces of miscellaneous infected creatures, and lastly the dying Haos itself. He would have noticed all this but by then his form had been completely encased in thewhite goo necessary to finish his C-Virus sponsored transformation.

What he didn't remember was the how long he'd been unconscious when he finally burst out of his mutant casing. At the bottom of the ocean, completely conscious, and fully aware. And naked.

After shaking off his initial wave of surprise and blinking in confusion - _holy fuck I'm still alive and holy fuck I'm still me!_ -, he began a round of secondary observations. He was still a member of the BSAA in some way or another, so he couldn't freak out about the fact that he was now some kind of high functioning infected. He repeated that to himself as he quietly did not have a small panic attack.

The first thing observed after managing to pul himself together was that he could breathe.

Underwater.

Moving his hands -Hands! He had two hands! - to his throat, he noticed a set of gill-like structures lining the surface of his skin. Of course, this observation came secondary to the fact that it seemed his transformation had given him his right arm back - and a human one at that, not some amorphous tentacle like before. In fact, his entire body seemed to look mostly human. He had two arms, two legs, hands and feet, though admittedly those seemed to have web like structures connecting the digit, like those of a duck or the fins of a fish.

Mentally Piers swore. God help him if he'd been transformed into some kind of fish man.

At least he could see, which struck him as odd seeing as he was underwater at a depth where very little light seemed to penetrate from the surface. Further examining himself, he noticed his skin, now a dull gray, seemed to be emitting a low blue bioluminescent light. Probably reminiscent of his primary mutation's tentacled arm. Blinking hard, he noticed a sore of thickness over his eyes - a secondary set of eyelids - explaining the clarity with which he could see his surroundings.

Satisfied with his catalogue of mutations, Piers glanced upward, towards the surface. If it weren't for the fact that he was deep underwater, he would sigh at the prospect of his long swim upwards. But he was a soldier, and a _damn_ good one at that. He could handle worse.

Thus began his trip upwards, to air, to land, and maybe, hopefully, to _Chris_.

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Chris had been despondent for weeks. The loss of his team _again_ had hit him too hard. He hadn't left his room at command in weeks, barely ate, and no one could talk to him without him snapping and shutting them out.

For godssake _Piers_.

Chris couldn't sleep because of the nightmares he had about his second in command. His mutation, his sacrifice, his death, the images kept replaying in his head _over and over_.

But _Piers_. Piers wouldn't want him to continue sulking forever. He'd want him to get back out there and be the captain Chris didn't really think he was.

_I did it for the BSAA._

His final words. Chris owed it to him at least to continue fighting against bioterrorism and the BOWs if only so he could complete the dream his second never could. To create a world without fear - at least of the mutant viral kind. That's what Chris would fight for, his fallen friend and partners dream.

Piers broke through to the surface.


	2. Fish in a Tank

Timeskip Timeskip timeskip, because I'm not going to write a crapilly written "He's Alive?! Alive?!" Scene. Mostly because I started writing it and didn't like it.

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Piers' return to base predictably caused quite the uproar. His mutations as well. At first, after being cleared by a host of scientists, the other soldiers observed him warily, unsure of how to act around the marksman-turned infected. Piers didn't care though. All he cared about was the reaction of his captain.

His .

After swimming endless miles to shore and making his way back to civilization, painstakingly naked and weak, Piers had managed to contact the BSAA. Certain discrepancies had been worked out, his identity verified, and he'd been shippred back to base. Tests were done and in the middle of a swarm of scientists taking his blood and checking his pulse, Chris had stormed into the base's medlab, grabbed him by the arms and pulled him to his chest.

Piers would remember that embrace forever.

He'd been quarantined after that. More tests were done, most centering around his new found aquatic – or rather amphibious, seeing as he now survive on both land and water – abilities. He spent countless hours suspended nude in a 4 by 10 ft tank, much to his displeasure. The head researcher, a Dr. Ellis Brown, said it was completely necessary, that his team would need to observe everything without even a simple pair of trunks obscuring his view, but that didn't mean Piers didn't catch the frequent appreciative glances thrown his way by male and female lab techs alike. It would have been unbearable, being treated like both an experiment and 24/7 eye candy at the same time, hadn't it been for Chris.

The first day after his quarantine/incarceration in the tank, Chris had come. He'd commanded all the doctors and researchers out, despite their protests, and pulled up a stool and sat in front of Piers' new watery home. And stared.

Piers quickly began feeling a bit subconscious. It's not like he's ever been ashamed of his body and he's sure Chris had seen him naked before in the showers after a long day of training, but after the change, the virus, he wasn't so sure. His once tanned skin was now a stark pale, and the gills on his neck looked like open wounds. He curled in on himself, webbed hang encircling his legs, turning his head to the side so he wouldn't have to meet his Captain's eyes.

"Piers" Chris choked out, and Piers closed his eyes. What would he see if he looked at his face?

A screeching was heard as Chris suddenly stood, knocking his heat to the side. "Piers," He repeated, despondent, moving towards the glass. "C'mon, Nivans, look at me." Raising his hand to the tank, he placed it palm down against the surface. "Talk to me, please."

Hesitantly, Piers opened his eyes and chanced a glance at Chris's face. What he saw was worry, guilt, and then, as his eyes met Chris's, relief. Massive amounts of relief.

"That's a good soldier," he said, smiling weakly. "How've you been soldier?" he asked, eyes traveling down his curled up form.

Piers didn't respond, just continued staring at Chris, _his captain_.

"Oh, uhm, I guess you can't speak, being underwater and all," Chris said, misinterpreting his silence. "Th-That's okay. I've got a lot to tell you anyway, so…" He trailed off, palm slipping down the glass. He huffed out a sigh. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to see me anyway," he said, moving to remove his hand.

Piers's hand shot out, colliding on the glass to meet where Chris's had been, mouth opening in protest, but no words coming out, bubbles escaping instead.

Chris halted his actions, face sliding blank for an instant before adopting an expression of pure relief. He sighed, pulling his abandoned stool back closer to the tank before taking a seat, hand never leaving the tank where it was connected to Piers's.

"I'll just get started then," he said smiling, then beginning to speak.


End file.
